Bearing mounting



Sept. 3, 1940' F. w. MQCARTNEY BEARING MOUNTING Filed Feb. 7, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet l F. w. MCCARTNEY BEARING MOUNTING Filed Feb. 7, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Q Iii wawhw .xzxav \WE 3 5 1124 EMY flax/M Sept. 3, 1940. F, w, MOCARTNEY 2,213,432

BEARING MOUNTING Filed Feb. 7, 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Sept. 3,1940

Frederick William assignor to Black &

McCartney,

Slough, England,

Decker Limited, Slough,

England, a British company Application February 7, 1939, Serial No. In Great Britain March 19, 1938 6 Claims.

This invention is for improvements in orrelating to bearing mountings for rotatable shafts and has for an object to provide an arrangement in which closely fitting plain bearings may be'employed for supporting rapidly rotating shafts without causing undue resistance and wear.

According to this invention, a bearing mounting for a rotatable shaft comprises a bearing housing, two plain bearings within said housing, supporting means between the housing and the bearings arranged to permit oscillatory rocking movement of the bearings and resilient means arranged to oppose axial movement of the bearlngs within the housing. By a plain bearing is meant a bearing having an internal cylindrical surface which is arranged to support a cylindrical journal on the rotatable shaft.

The supporting means may comprise, for example, a spherical surface formed on the outside of each plain bearing and two internal conical surfaces or concave surfaces of larger radius of curvature than the spherical surface formed on' the inside of the housing or on a part mounted therein and arranged respectively to engage the spherical surfaces. The resilient means are arranged to maintain said surfaces on the bearings and housing in contact. Itis found with this arrangement that even if the journal is slightly warped, a close. fit may be effected between the resistance and wear,

Each said conical or concave surface may be formed on a part which is axially slidable in said housing and said spring means is arranged to force said parts towards said spherical surfaces.

For example a compression spring may be arranged between the two axially slidable parts.

Each of said axially slidable parts may be formed in two halves separated from one another,

one on either side of 'a plane transverse to the shaft axis, and said housing may be-provided at each end thereof with a shoulder against which one half of each axially slidable part abuts. With this arrangement, the spherical surface of each bearing is resiliently gripped between the two halves of said axially slidable parts.

In a bearing mounting in which said shaft is required to resist axial thrust, the shaft is provided with a shoulder arranged to engage one end face of one of said axially slidable parts,

In one constructional form of the invention,

each of the plain bearings is provided with an external central cylindrical portion flanked by spherical surfaces and each of the two halves of 55 each axial slidable part is provided with a cybearings and the shaft without causing undue lindrical portion of larger diameter than the cylindrical portion of the bearing and a spherical or conical portion at one end thereof, arranged to encircle and engage the spherical surface of the bearing. Such an arrangement is found to 5 be particularly suitable for-the grinding-wheel shaft in a grinding machine.

In an alternative construction, said conical or concave surfaces are formed on the housing or a part fixed thereto and the-spring means are 10 arranged to engage the said plain bearings so as to force the spherical surface thereon into engagement with the conical or concave. surfaces. In such an arrangement, a compression spring may be disposed between end faces formed on 15 the two plain bearings so as to press outwardly and to maintain the spherical surfaces in engagement with the conical or concave surfaces. The shaft may be provided with a shoulder and a second compressionspring may be disposed be- 20 tween that. shoulder and an end face of one of said plain hearings or a shoulder on the housing. Such an arrangement is suitable for mounting a rotatable chuck-shaft for holding a work-piece in a grinding machine. 25

In any of the arrangements referred to above, the plain bearings are formed from a self-lubrieating metal compound and the clearance between the shaft and the bearings may be as small as .0001 of an inch. p

The following is a description of two embodiments of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure -1 is a vertical section through a grinding head of a grinding machine, and

Figure 2 is a vertical section through a headin which the work chuck-shaft is mounted in a grinding machine, I

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a grinding machine, showing how the grinding-head and ro- 40 tatable work-chuck are mounted on the base of the machine.

As seen in Figure 3, a grinding-head 51 is car- ,ried by a table 58 which is adjustably mounted in a slideway. on a base 60. V The head 6| which car-. 5 ries the work chuck is' supported on atable 62 which is adjustably carried by a second slideway also on the base 60; z Referring to Figure 1, thegrinding head com- Q prises a cradle I ll'arranged to support a hollow cylindrical bearing housing l'l whichis clamped "in the cradle by keeps l2 which are engaged by clamping'n'uts l3 on studs-l4. Each end of the cylindrical bearing housing is provided with an internal circumferential groove It in which is mounted a removable split spring-ring I [of the kind sold under the name of circ1ip". A shaft ll for the grinding wheels extends through the cylindrical housing and is carried by two plain bearings I8 formed from a self-lubricating metal comp0und. The clearance between the shaft and the bearings may be as low as of the order of .0001" where the diameter ofthe shaft is at least 1". It will be noted that each bearing is provided with an external cylindrical surface I! flanked on either side by spherical surfaces 20.- Each bearing is supported by a mounting formed in two-parts II which are spaced apart on either side of a plane transverse to the axis of the shaft. Each part is of such a size asto be axially slidable in the housing. Each part is also provided with an internal cylindrical portion 22 of a larger diameter than the diameter of the cylindrical part of the bearing and with a spherical or conical surface 23 which is arranged to engage one of the surfaces 20 of the bearing. A helical compression spring as is arranged to encircle the shaft between the two mountings so as to force the mountings against the' grinding wheel is secured in position on said bush by a washer ii and a clamping nut 32 which engages a screwed extremity of said shaft. An oiler 33 extends through the wall of the cylindrical housing. If intermediate of the two bearings. v

Figure 2 shows an arrangement for mounting a hollow chuck-spindle 34 in a grinding machine for refacing valves. Details of-the chuck are not shown except for the manipulating member 35 which extends into the hollow chuck-spindle and is arranged to en age the mechanism, whereby'the jaws of the chuck are. opened' and closed. Securedto the hollow spindle is a .driving pulley" which is connected through suitable belt-and-pulley gearing with a driving motor 31 located in a hollow head II. The hollow head is provided with a hollow cylindrical bearing housing 39 which isprovided with an face of the housing.

internal conical surface 4| at that end adjacent the gripping end of the chuck spindle. Mounted in the other end of the housing is a race ll having an internal conical face 42. The race is retained within the housing by a spring-ring 43 which engages a groove formed on theinner The hollow spindle is supported in two plain bearings 44 and ll. The outer surface of each plain bearing is made up of a cylindrical portion II and a spherical portion I! which latter, in the case of the bearing ll, is arranged to engage with the conical face ll of the housing and, in the case of the bear-' ing ll, is arranged to engage with the conical face of the race ll. A helical compression spring is arranged between the inner endfacesof thebearingsllandl'lsoastomain- I tain thespherical faces in engagement with the conical 'faces. The hollow chuck spindle is provided with a shoulder ll which'forms one race of aball thrust bearing II, the otherrace bearing sleeves is retained between the shoulder posed between it and theouter end of the bearl0 ing 44.

I claim: u l. A bearing mounting for a rotatable shaft, comprising shearing housing, two plain metal bearing sleeves spaced apart within said housing and adapted to slide axially on said shaft and having at least a part of their outer surfaces convexly curved, metal supporting means in said I housing adapted to engage said convexly curved surfaces and to permit oscillatory rocking movement of each plain bearing sleeve, and a spring arranged between the two plain bearing sleeves and adapted to maintain said convexly curved surfaces in engagement with the supporting means.

2. A bearing mounting for a rotatable shaft, comprising a bearing housing, two plain metal bearing sleeves spaced apart within said housing and adapted to slide axially on said shaft and having at least a part of their outer surfaces 80 formed with a part-spherical face, metal supporting means in said housing having internal conical faces adapted to engage said spherical outer surfaces and to permit oscillatory movement of each plain bearing sleeve and a spring arranged between the two, plain bearing sleeves and adapted to maintain said spherical surfaces .in engagement with said conical faces.

3. A hearing mounting for a rotatable shaft} comprising a bearing housing, two plain metal bearing sleeves'spaced apart within said housing a and adapted to slide axially on said shaft and having at least-a part of their, outer surfaces formed with convexly curved faces, two supporting members axially slidable in said housing and adapted to engage the inner portion of each convexly curved surface, a shoulder at-each end of said housing and a spring disposed between the two supporting members so as to maintain them in engagement with said convexly curved surfaces.

- having at least a part of its outer surface formed with a convex spherical face'and one of which on said shaft and the shoulder at one end of the housing, two pairs of supporting members axially slidable within-said housing, the two members of each pairbeing arranged one at either end of a bearing sleeve so as to engage said spherical surface and so as to permit "oscillatory rocking movementof the bearing sleeves, and a compression spring arranged between the two innermost supporting members.

formed with a part-spherical face towards the 7 2,213,432 outer end thereof, an internal conical supporting surface at each end of said housing adapted to engage one of the aforesaid spherical surfaces and a spring arranged between and adapted to engage said plain bearing sleeves so as to maintain them in engagement with said conical surfaces.

6. A grinding machine comprising a grinding wheel shaft and a work-carrying shaft, a bearing mounting for at least one of said shafts, comprising a bearing housing, two plain metal hearing sleeves spaced apart within said housing and having a clearance of the order of .0001 of an inch and not greater than .0005 of an inch 'be tween them and the shaft, each of which hearing sleeves is provided with a convex spherical outer surface at each end thereof and separated by a. cylindrical surface, two supporting members axially slidable in said housing and adapted to engage the spherical surfaces on the bearing sleeves, a shoulder at each end of said housing and a spring disposed between the supporting members so as to maintain them in engagement with said spherical surfaces.

FREDERICK WILLIAM MCCARTNEY. 

